Rock N’ Roll Hall Of Fame Announces Nominees For 2026

Today, The Rock N’ Roll Hall Of Fame announced its nominees for 2026 and it turns out that it’s a diverse list of performers primarily from the 1980s and 1990s with a few exceptions.  Some are not standard rock music once again.  Yes, plenty of big names are not on the list – several we cover here at The Rock Lair.  We’ll cover those artists soon. 

In the meantime, looking at the nominees, many think Iron Maiden for rock and Phil Collins for pop/rock are long overdue.  Joy Division and New Order have had massive influence in the alternative rock world.  The Black Crowes are closest to traditional rock n’ roll and Oasis reminded people that they dominated rock in the 1990s with one of the biggest tours of the decade last year when they pulled off a successful reunion on a massive scale.  

Lauryn Hill and Jeff Buckley are really only about one popular studio album that was hugely successful -they were both nominated more for influence and innovation than sales or longevity.  Several of the nominees either died young or had a member die young – Jeff Buckley, Joy Division, Wu-Tang Clan, and INXS. 

We cover grunge and post-grunge primarily - none of the acts that have played grunge even a little are here - Alice in Chains, Smashing Pumpkins, Stone Temple Pilots. The biggest omission from the alt. rock world is Linkin Park who have sold over 100 million albums, have 3 albums with 20 million in sales worldwide, have had major influence on 21st century rock, and sell out stadium shows to this day.

Let’s split the 17 nominees by musical style.   

Rock

-The Black Crowes

-Jeff Buckley

-Melissa Etheridge

-Billy Idol

-INXS

-Iron Maiden

-Joy Division/New Order – this is a first for the Hall combining two groups.

-Oasis

R&B/Pop

-Mariah Carey

-Lauryn Hill

-New Edition

-Luther Vandross

-Sade

Pop/Rock

-Phil Collins

-Pink

-Shakira

Rap

-Wu-Tang Clan